It was the first hotel chain, in its entirety, to face a United States Justice Department inquiry into racial discrimination for violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
In the 1990s, Adams Mark settled multimillion-dollar racial discrimination lawsuits involving employees and consumers against individual hotels in Indianapolis and St.
"[5] The Justice Department agreed with the claimants in a nonmonetary settlement, finding that Adams Mark engaged in racial discrimination by "charging Black customers higher prices than Whites and segregating Black customers in less desirable rooms as part of a corporate pattern of discrimination.
Tweets about the incident documented a photograph of the doll hanging by a "white plastic bag noose" around her neck.
[8] While once numbering more than 20 large hotels, the chain, because of financial difficulties and changing corporate strategies, sold all of its properties during the 2000s.